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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

Give Thanks

(For politics, please scroll down)


Abraham Lincoln was our first President to make Thanksgiving Day a national holiday. He probably set the observance in late November so as to correlate the holiday with the date of the Mayflower's anchoring (November 21, 1620, by the modern Gregorian calendar but November 11, 1620, by the Julian calendar used by the Pilgrims).

Abraham Lincoln's 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation reads as follows:
The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

A. Lincoln
Additional reading...

1) Thanksgiving: The Forgotten History of America's Thanksgiving and What It Commemorates

2) How the 'Mother of Thanksgiving' [Sarah Josepha Hale] Lobbied Abraham Lincoln to Proclaim the National Holiday: The author of the children's poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb" was persistent in arguing that establishing the national November holiday could help heal wounds from the Civil War.

In keeping with above words of President Lincoln, who was in 1863 going through a troubled time with the burdens of civil war and the responsibilities of leadership, let us meditate upon our blessings, truly too numerous to count. And let us remember and meditate upon these words (my paternal uncle's favorite hymn, which we joyfully sang at his memorial service):

18 comments:

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to you, Mr. Aow and all your readers. We are so blessed.

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  2. Happy Thanksgiving to AOW, all her contributors, and all who read/comment here. May your blessings increase ten fold over the next year.

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  3. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving, AoW and company! And may we all be truly Thankful for the blessing's we've all received.

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  4. Life is a paradox. The moment we are born we begin the journey toward inevitable death.

    In my opinion the best thing we could hope to do with the opportunity life affords would be to do everything in our power to make it an enjoyable experience while being as kind and generous as possible to those less fortunate than we.

    Don't grumble.

    Don't pick at scabs.

    Don't look for reasons to find fault.

    Always give the benefit pf the doubt.

    Accept adversity, and try to profit from it.

    "Be curious not judgmental" (Walt Whitman)

    Count your blessings each day.

    Trust God, and be grateful for the Gift of Life –– no matter what.

    H_A_P_P_Y ... T_H_A_N_K_S_G_I_V_I_N_G_!

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. What a pleasure it was to hear such splendid congregational singing! I looked in vain to find the location and identity of this vibrant celebration of faith, but I have a feeling from the look of the church, and comeliness and dignity of the prishioners that it must be somewere in England.

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  6. NEWS FOR WHICH ALL OF US SHOULD BE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL:

    HOO BOY! New Poll sShows Warren in Free Fall, Losing Half Her National Support

    Hot Air

    by Allahpundit

    And to think, I’ve been feeling sheepish these last few months for pointing to her poor polling this past spring and declaring that her candidacy was going nowhere. She rose steadily all summer and into early fall! She led in multiple early states! She was the one member of the top tier whom every pundit agreed was exciting crowds on the trail! Now, suddenly, it looks like her final destination might be [shudder] Kamalaville. This new one from Quinnipiac is “just one poll,” as the data nerds like to say, except … it’s not really “just one poll.” As we’ll see momentarily, Warren has been slipping . . .

    HALLELUJAH! THERE REALLY IS A GOD. H_A_P_P_Y ... T_H_A_N_K_S_G_I_V_I_N_G_!

    ALL THAT FLAILING AWAY AT THE AIR AROUND HER, ALL THAT MANIACAL JERKING AND TWITCHING, HEAD BOBBING, STOMPING ALL OVER THE PODIUM AND ALL THAT FATUOUS SHRIEKING HYPERBOLE REVEALED HER TO BE THE DANGEROUS LUNATIC SHE IS.

    H_A_P_P_Y ... T_H_A_N_K_S_G_I_V_I_N_G_!

    I_____N_____D_____E_____D_____E_____E_____D_____!

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  7. I hope you and Mr. AOW, and the contributors here have a happy and relaxing Thanksgiving holiday.

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  8. Thanks, all!

    Just so you know...I'm crazy busy here. The Merry Widow is in town, and we are CLEANING OUT this house!

    So far, two trips to the public library to donate books. I'm paring down my home library.

    Today, stuffed in the back of a closet I haven't opened in decades we found a 1792 annotated Bible and printed in England and loads of Big Band 78s. What to do with all this?

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  9. Happy Thanksgiving to you and your Mr. and the Merry Widow.

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  10. ________ On Thanksgiving ________

    Of all events parading through the year
    Not one can to this humble feast compare.
    To feel or offer thanks today is rare
    However well our lives remain in gear.

    As ease became the norm, we soon forgot
    None of Plymouth’s Pilgrims felt regret.
    Knowing death and cruel privation’s threat
    Spoiled not their faith, or made them curse their lot.

    Given much yet now we seem to crave
    Immeasurable bounty we don’t need
    Voluptuous excess revealing Greed
    Indifference to the noble, fine and brave.

    No pilgrim, pioneer or great tycoon*
    Grew up as a self-indulgent goon.


    ~ FreeThinke - 11/28/19

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  11. Hope it is a warm day with good company and food for you.

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    1. We have Thanksgiving dinner courtesy of the homeschool moms. Heat and serve! Good thing as we're busy, busy, busy with sorting and tossing here as The Big Clean Out continues.

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    2. New Beginnings can be great things. I hope yours is.

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  12. MUST READS at Lucianne.com NEWS FORUM HOMEPAGE for THANKSGIVING DAY

    Embattled CNN Fails to Attract One Million Viewers During Impeachment Month

    WHOOPS!

    President Trump’s Broward County Florida ‘Homecoming Rally’ – 1 in 4 Attendees
    were Democrats!


    WOO HOO HOO! HOO! HOO! Now how about THAT, baseball fans?

    Hunter Biden’s ‘baby's mama,’ Lunden Roberts, was stripper at club he frequented

    No protection used? What a sleazebag!

    Mayor Pete’s Rainbow Army

    With hot pink feathers lurking no doubt!

    Trump Restored References to God in Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamations after Obama Abandoned Them

    Rest assured God knows it too

    CNN’s Pre-Thanksgiving Civility Lesson: Trump defenders ‘Should Be Laughed at, Ridiculed, and Scorned’

    You can bet they'll drop a frozen turkey in boiling oil today

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